Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-12-Speech-4-008"
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"en.20070712.3.4-008"2
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"Mr President, the report we are discussing and on which we will be voting today concerns the agreement on enhanced cooperation between the European Union and Ukraine. I do not want to repeat the contents of this report. In my speech, I would like to focus on the broader context within which this report should be considered.
First of all, the report contains a realistic assessment of the situation in Ukraine and, thus, on the one hand, it acknowledges that we should appreciate the huge effort made by the Ukrainian people and the state along the path to full democracy, a market economy and respect for human rights. It should be added that, during the dozen or so years of independence, Ukraine has made a great deal of progress in terms of creating a modern European Society.
Today, Ukraine is a tolerant, free, democratic country. It is, ultimately, a country where the majority of people support integration with the European Union, as all opinion polls reflect. As we have revealed everything in the report, it should also be stressed that Ukraine does face certain problems. We call on the Ukrainian Government to deal with these issues. The problems are related to, amongst others, the free and proper functioning of foreign companies, including European Union companies, in Ukraine. There are cases of criminal activity. The Ukrainian Government has declared that it will try to combat crime and we should applaud this move.
I would also like to stress that in the course of our work on the report, colleagues from all groups interested in Ukraine’s troubles showed a great deal of solidarity. I would like to thank, amongst others, Mr Siwiec from the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, who is with us today. As the vice-president of the European Parliament and responsible for relations with Ukraine, he has helped me a great deal.
From the outset, I wanted this report to be a document which would unite, rather than divide, this House. I wanted it to be a document on which we would try to reach a consensus. Today, it seems worthwhile for the European Parliament, which is an institution that Ukrainians pay attention to, to send a signal which would show the Ukrainian people that the European Parliament does not want to close its doors to Ukrainians, although, at the same time, it does assess Ukrainian membership in realistic terms, namely as something that will not happen in the nearest future.
This great nation is a European nation and anyone who has been to Ukraine can easily see how much of Europe's cultural heritage can be found there. It is enough to see Kiev as the cradle of a very important Christian denomination in Eastern Europe in order to realise that Ukrainians, and the Ukrainian state, fully deserve to be described as a European nation and that we, as the European Parliament, as the European Union, should treat this country with friendship and respect.
I hope that, as I have pointed out, the report will be treated by this House as a compromise document, a document reflecting the good will of our institution, the European Parliament, towards the Ukrainian people."@en1
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